Extreme barocaloric effect at dissolution.
basic_science · Level V
Where this comes from
- Record sourced from PubMed, PMID 41565817.
- Also identified by DOI 10.1038/s41586-025-10013-1.
- No licence information is recorded for this record.
- Because redistribution is not established, this page shows the abstract only. Follow the links below for the full text.
Abstract
Refrigeration is indispensable to modern society<sup>1</sup>, yet the dominant vapour-compression systems rely on environmentally harmful fluorocarbon refrigerants with high global warming potential<sup>2-4</sup>. Solid-state caloric refrigeration offers a low-carbon alternative<sup>5-7</sup>, but its practical deployment has been hindered by limited cooling capacity and the inefficient indirect heat transfer that requires secondary fluids. Here we report an extreme barocaloric effect in NH<sub>4</sub>SCN aqueous solutions enabled by pressure-tuned dissolution and precipitation. This mechanism delivers an exceptionally large cooling capacity and markedly enhanced cooling efficiency. We obtain an in situ temperature drop of 26.8 K in the solution at room temperature, surpassing all known caloric materials. A Carnot-like cycle is designed to deliver 67 J g<sup>-1</sup> cooling capacity per cycle with a second-law efficiency of 77%, benefiting from the extremely large temperature drops and direct heat transfer due to the self-circulating aqueous solution. Beyond the phase-transition scenario, this dissolution-based approach that combines the merits of current leading technologies emerges as a promising sustainable refrigeration solution.